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Ploeger: Keeping active is a learning process

Barbara Ploeger

Enterprise Columnist

Posted:
08/02/2014 05:00:00 AM MDT

Barbara Ploeger REC NOTES

Having always been a fairly physically active person, I haven't ever struggled with making exercise one of my top priorities. I love being active, and exercise is one of the main tools I use to relieve stress. To the contrary, the challenge I have faced throughout my life is being able to understand when my body is telling me "enough is enough" when it comes to physical activity.

When younger, I was a zealot; quite often exercising way more than necessary or even wise. As my body has aged over the years, it has gained a much stronger voice in letting me know in no uncertain terms when I have pushed too far. Going against my mindset, which always tells me I must exercise more, has been a major obstacle in learning how to balance physical activity with life's stages. The road for me was, and still is, difficult. Perhaps others can benefit, however, from a few of the things I have learned through it all.

Lesson one: Life has its stages. Sometimes we're healthy, sometimes we're not. At times it is easier to work some exercise into a day, and at others it seems virtually impossible. I have learned to do the best I can, and accept my efforts as sufficient. After all, who is it that sets our personal goals anyway?

Lesson two: Be creative in what you do to stay active. The same exercise methods will not work at all stages of life. And sometimes, it's pretty hard to find any method that works optimally for a given stage. Realize that life changes often, and what we do for physical activity should change to accommodate what we're facing.

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Lesson three: Be patient with what you are able to do. In my younger years, I would push myself after surgery or being sick to hurry and resume exercising (and some of that is good). When my babies kept me up all night, I fretted the next day about not feeling up to working out. When I look back on it, the anxiety I caused myself in situations when I couldn't exercise often or regularly just wasn't necessary and didn't do anybody any good.

Lesson four: Just do something, even if it's a little thing. If all you can do is walk around the block once, I promise it will give the same mental boost that would be produced by running several miles at a healthier time in your life.

Lesson five: Do the opposite of what you have been doing all day. If you have been on your feet a lot, go take a swim or do something that will exercise the rest of you and let your feet rest. If you have been staring at a computer screen and sitting all day, get outside and walk— and look into the distance to give your eyes a rest. Learn new forms of exercise along the way, which will accommodate your changing lifestyle.

These simple lessons learned over the years now serve as a guide for me in gauging what I can wisely do to keep my body as healthy as possible. There's more to it than just exercise; we all know that. Finding a balance isn't always easy, but one thing that definitely makes sense is to accept what is and to keep trying with each new day.

Barbara Ploeger is the marketing specialist for Broomfield Recreation Services. Email her at bploeger@broomfield.org.

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